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Gilbertsville evens
Tri-County final series 8-1
By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call
Gilbertsville's Mike Moyer says he got the nickname "Doc" about 15 years ago in
junior high from some basketball-playing buddies.
Moyer says he hardly ever resembled "Dr. J" on the basketball court, but
yesterday he "slam" dunked Silver Creek in Tri-County League Championship Series
Game 4 as his sixth-inning slam broke open an 8-1 victory for his team.
The
win evened the best-of-five series at two games apiece and sets the stage
for a championship game at 5:45 p.m. tomorrow at Silver Creek.
The
Rangers, bidding for their seventh Tri-Co title in the last 10 years, broke
up a tight 2-1 contest with six runs in the fifth. Moyer provided the
decisive blast, drilling a high Jason Young fastball into the left-field
forest at Boyertown Junior High East Field with the bases loaded.
"It
was a 2-2 fastball up in my eyes and I just kind of tomahawked it," said
Moyer, the team's player-manager. "With the hitters we have in our lineup,
I'm not usually going to be the hero.
"I'm
just down there in the lineup to help out when I can and get on base. I
don't consider myself a bad hitter. But really, with the bases loaded in
that situation and it being only 2-1 I would have just been happy to get a
sacrifice fly."
Moyer's slam followed singles to Ryan Fox and Jeff Evans and a walk to Bob
Drumbore. The Ranger rampage continued after the slam as Brian Miller and
Dave Dykie singled and scored on Marty Bauer's double.
The
six-run uprising made life that much easier for Gilbertsville pitcher Bob
Drumbore who was in complete command throughout. After yielding an unearned
run in the first, Drumbore blanked Silver Creek on two hits over the next
five frames.
"All
those runs made things easier," said Drumbore, who walked one and struck out
four in the two-hitter. "You always tried to pitch as well as your team
needs you to. It was a tight game for awhile and I couldn't give up
anything. Once you get a lead, you just want to throw strikes. I just tried
to mix up pitches and it was nice to have three pitches -- fastball,
changeup and curve -- working."
Drumbore had several easy, low-pitch innings before handing the ball over to
Ryan Fox after the sixth. Drumbore's light workload made it highly possible
that he could see more action tomorrow in the deciding game.
"I'll have to see how I feel, but surely if I'm needed I'll give it a
whirl," Drumbore said. "I don't have any idea right now who is going to
pitch for us. It'll be interesting to see."
Regardless of who Silver Creek (28-8) faces on the mound, manager Steve
Smull knows his club's bats will have to come alive.
"We
were just flatter than a pancake today," Smull said after his club lost for
the fifth time in seven meetings against Gilbertsville this season. "The
bats have gone silent in the last two days. We haven't had more than seven
hits in a game against them all year, primarily because they have great
pitching.
"Tom
Hartman showed why he should be a `Pitcher of the Year' candidate with his
performance against us last night and Bob Drumbore showed why he should be
the league's MVP with how he pitched on just three days rest today. What can
I say? They're a heck of a team. But we're going to come at them with
everything we've got and try to win this thing."
Bauer and Fox each contributed two hits to the Rangers' 12-hit attack. Bauer
drove in three runs overall, while Greg Gilbert scored a pair of runs.
For
Silver Creek, meanwhile, only Joe Cuvo and Terry Sutton had hits. Only
Sutton's single to center was hit sharply.
Can
"Doc" provide the right prescription for one more Gilbertsville win?
"I
don't know about that stuff ... I have no doctors or dentists in my family;
my Dad's a butcher," said Moyer, whose team improved to 28-11. "I'm just
glad that we're starting to hit in the clutch again and we're getting the
good pitching. We've fought back, but we've still got one more to go. We'll
be ready Monday."
keith.groller@mcall.com
From The Morning Call --
August 15, 1993
Copyright
© 1993,
The Morning Call
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